We have a once-in-a-lifetime shot to mold the next phase of New York City’s evolution. JDavidsonNYC reports
Clockwise from top left: Malcolm Delarosa, Musician, Maspeth; Jeffrey Perkins, Artist, Upper West Side; Aja Agosto, Student, Soundview, and Jayden Jimenez, Student, Unionport; Baladine Pierce, Intern, Soho; Justin Thomas, Student, Long Island; Charles Turner and Alexandria Lee, Graphic designer, Hudson Heights; Bennet Bergman Poet, Greenwich Village; Ialyah Jones, Artist, Brownsville. Photo: Alexei Hay This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter.
“In a moment of crisis, people see the world around them differently,” says Shaun Donovan, a former Housing and Urban Development secretary during the Obama administration who is exploring a run for mayor. “They’re open to new ways of seeing their communities and their city, and they’re looking to be united. As devastating as these crises have been, they are an opportunity to reimagine New York.”
In theory, the COVID recession should help alleviate the shortage. Vacancies are up, rents are down, and we hear there are good deals to be had. But that’s mostly a Manhattan, plus well-off slices of Brooklyn and Queens, phenomenon and likely a brief one. The rejuvenating tides of immigrants that nourish the outer-boroughs have dried up for now but will flow again. So will the stream of people propelled by fantasy, ambition, and eccentricity.
Luxury developers. The phrase drips with contempt — a sentiment that may play well during a campaign but that no sitting mayor can afford to act on. If Stringer and other progressives want more leverage, they will have to negotiate a new relationship with the real-estate industry, rather than hope to lock it out. It’s true that public subsidies help developers get rich — Stephen Ross built the mammoth Related Companies on affordable housing — but the fact is they are the ones with the capital.
From left, Sohrab Vahabzadeh, “Bon vivant,” Greenwich Village. Charles Turner, Songwriter, and Alexandria Lee, Graphic designer, Hudson Heights. “We go to the Met Opera,” says Turner. “We have subscription tickets, and they’ve just been canceling it every three months. I don’t know how one comes back from that.” Photo: Alexei Hay From left, Ialyah Jones, Artist, Brownsville, and Ela Tekin, Student, Woodside.
Shipping, manufacturing, finance, tourism — each has buoyed the city, then left a wake of wreckage. The next mayor will have to continue to find new ways to spread the risk, and one path to a sturdier, fairer future might run through the past. “Ours was an agrarian city. We had farmland in the Bronx and Queens,” Adams says. “With today’s technology, we can grow food on rooftops and in vertical spaces.” That business could quickly expand beyond the earnest niche it occupies now.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Billboard erected next to Iowa Trump rally site directs supporters to 'COVID Superspreader Event'The stunt was organised by Rural America 2020, a non-profit organization headed by a former Republican official.
Read more »
Senate to vote on another aid package next weekThe Senate will vote on a $500 billion pandemic aid package next week, but Democratic leaders are still holding out for a bigger deal
Read more »
‘The Art of Hermès’ Presents Birkin Bags Next to Warhol PrintsKelly and Birkin bags sit alongside works by Christo, Yayoi Kusama, and Pierre Soulages—exploring the visual relationship between high fashion and art.
Read more »
Stock picks to buy, investing strategy for next 10-year market cycle - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »